When can I swim after trabeculectomy?

Swimming is the activity where a bleb changes the math. The American Academy of Ophthalmology exercise guidance for trabeculectomy and tube implants is no swimming and no direct water exposure to the eyes. The Glaucoma Research Foundation says patients are advised to keep water out of the eye for at least one week after incisional glaucoma surgery, and the foundation elsewhere advises avoiding swimming for at least 2 weeks after this surgery.

The reason is the bleb itself. EyeWiki reports that bleb leakage increases the risk of bleb infection about 26 fold, that inferior blebs carry a risk of about 7.8 percent per patient year versus about 1.3 percent per patient year for superior blebs, and that reported bleb associated endophthalmitis incidence ranges from 0.2 to 3.8 percent. Pool, lake, ocean, and hot tub water all carry organisms, and the bleb is a thin walled pocket sitting on the surface of the eye.

Many glaucoma surgeons ask patients to use tight fitting swim goggles indefinitely after trabeculectomy and to stay out of lakes, rivers, and hot tubs. That is a per surgeon judgment, not a published universal rule, so ask yours directly what the lifetime plan is rather than assuming you go back to normal at some week number.